episode_0076

“So? So what happened?”

To his wife Atalante’s question, Hippomenes recalled the events that had happened at the company.

At Department Head Hippolyta’s words, “Take responsibility,” Manager Joy said this:

─I will take responsibility.

There was not even the slightest trace of hesitation.

In his eyes, there was no tension or fear, only conviction.

‘He was a splendid man.’

Having worked for a long time in the Welfare Team, Hippomenes was a man who had worked with many female employees.

All of them were certainly great elites, as they were headquarters employees.

But they lacked the same vigor that Manager Joy displayed.

‘Indeed, Manager Joy was a man among men.’

Thump, thump-.

It felt as if the heart residing within Hippomenes was pounding.

Towards such Hippomenes, his wife Atalante spoke.

“Honey, by any chance, before you go to work tomorrow, could you do the laundry and run the vacuum cleaner? And if you have time left over, make some side dishes too. And massage my legs for me. Wash my face for me and wash my hair for me.”

Atalante threw her leg onto Hippomenes’s waist.

If it were the usual Hippomenes, he would have nodded his head at this point.

Whatever it was, he would go along with it amicably.

This was the survival strategy of Hippomenes, nicknamed “the kept man,” enabling him to survive among competent women.

But?

Today’s Hippomenes, however, had ‘felt something’ while watching Manager Joy.

It was a manly vigor.

“…No.”

“Huh? What did you just say?”

“That’s your job. You can wash your own face and hair yourself.”

Thump, thump-.

Hippomenes was surprised himself at why he was able to say such rude words. Perhaps he had been inspired by Manager Joy.

‘For the first time in my life, I honestly spoke what was in my heart.’

Seeing such Hippomenes, Atalante was dumbfounded.

“What? Did you eat something wrong? Why are you suddenly like this?”

If it were the usual Hippomenes, he would have granted everything Atalante asked for.

Atalante also liked Hippomenes’s considerate nature.

The reason she married Hippomenes, despite rejecting all the marriage proposals from various heroes, was because, unlike the masculine heroes of the Greek worldview, he seemed kind and attentive to women’s hearts.

However.

With Hippomenes asserting his will so strongly, his wife Atalante couldn’t help but be perplexed in many ways.

Thump-thump-.

Therefore, her heart pounded.

For it was natural for a person’s heart to become agitated when experiencing something too perplexing.

“How dare you talk back, Hippomenes, of all people? If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even have left a name in the age of myths! And you didn’t even win fairly in the race against me!”

Atalante deliberately uttered cruel words, pretending to hide her mixed feelings.

She thought she would bite Hippomenes’s side hard, just like she used to as a lioness.

Thinking so, she burrowed into his embrace.

But Hippomenes grabbed Atalante’s shoulders and pushed her away.

“If I’m to go to work early tomorrow morning, I need to sleep early.”

“Wow, that’s really too much. Too much.”

Atalante was truly disappointed.

At the same time, learning for the first time that her husband possessed such vigor and decisiveness, she also felt a novel sensation.

# # #

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

And he hadn’t even fully adapted to the new work environment yet.

Honestly, I didn’t even know what I had done, yet the day of judgment approached.

“Manager Joy, the week I promised you is here. You said that if you abolished the cliques, work efficiency would increase by 100 percent and over 300 percent in performance bonuses would be paid, didn’t you?”

Department Head Hippolyta crossed her arms and pressed me in a solemn voice.

The figures written on the performance graph status placed next to her were completely different from what I had promised.

So I had no choice but to bow my head.

“Well…”

“The numbers are different from what you promised, aren’t they? How do you plan to explain?”

“That’s…”

“Work efficiency increased by a whopping 1000%! Performance bonuses were paid out over 2000%!”

Resounding loudly-.

The Amazon Queen’s lion’s roar.

Crash, clang, crash!

As a result, all the office windows shattered.

“Unnie, even so, what are we going to do if you break the office windows again?”

According to Assistant Manager Pan, it seemed that Department Head Hippolyta breaking windows by shouting happened often.

Of course, what was important was that my heart also shattered into pieces like a glass window.

Work efficiency increased by 1000%.

Performance bonus paid 2000%.

Could such ridiculous figures really be true?

And that, in just one week!

‘What on earth happened?!’

I couldn’t understand.

During this past week, I hadn’t particularly felt any sign of change.

Wasn’t it just the appearance of a normal office?

However-.

Department Head Hippolyta, with her arms crossed, was greatly impressed.

“Previously, when we proceeded with a certain task in cooperation with employees, there were many situations where we had to communicate indirectly depending on the opposing faction.”

For example, it was like this.

Employee A needed to seek cooperation from Employee B.

If the factions of the two employees were hostile.

Employee A would seek cooperation from Employee C, who was also acquainted with Employee B, and say, “Can you tell Employee B to make a copy of the document?”

However, if Employee C and Employee D, who was in charge of copying, were in hostile factions, another problem would arise.

“That’s why our Welfare Team’s work efficiency had dropped to an extreme. With the abolition of cliques and the normalization of factions, it has returned to normal.”

As far as I knew, the Welfare Team was a passably normal department.

Even until now, it meant they had enough work capability to be responsible for one pillar of the headquarters, without any particular flaws.

However, it’s a different story if that record was achieved while wearing the inefficient shackles of “the scramble for power by 300 factions.”

An adult man running 100 meters in 13 seconds is ordinary, but.

Running while carrying 50kg of military equipment in 13 seconds was a very special feat.

Having thrown off their shackles, the work efficiency of the Welfare Team’s female employees was truly overwhelming.

It was just barely surpassing the performance of the Audit Team and Safety Management Teams, who were called the true powerhouses of headquarters.

‘No way, I can’t believe work efficiency would increase that much just by eliminating factions.’

I couldn’t even imagine it.

Soon, Assistant Manager Pan also snorted, “Heh-,” and tapped my shoulder, didn’t she?

“Honestly, memorizing the factions and worrying about them was annoying for me too. But it was a tradition passed down from old times, and everyone else did it, so that’s how it was.”

“It’s better if everyone gets along well, isn’t it?”

“It’s comfortable. So easy.”

“Especially Manager Hippomenes has changed a lot, hasn’t he?”

Hippomenes’s name was being talked about by the female employees.

I looked at Manager Hippomenes’s desk-.

“This document has many errors. Look at the third line on page 22. The number is written incorrectly. Correct it and bring it back. Make sure there are no mistakes next time.”

He was dealing with the employees with an extremely solemn and stern attitude.

His dignified appearance, overflowing with majesty, was no different from a male lion.

“Manager Hippomenes, he’s really splendid lately.”

“Hey! Don’t set your sights on a married man!”

“Just because there’s a goalkeeper, doesn’t the ball go in?”

For some unknown reason.

After the abolition of cliques, Manager Hippomenes was incredibly good at his job, and it was said that the efficiency of the Welfare Team also increased tremendously.

‘This is a nightmare!’

I’d rather it be a nightmare.

If it were a dream, at least I could wake up.

So while I was crying profusely only on the inside, Department Head Hippolyta tapped my shoulder.

“Manager Joy, when that guy Hassan said he was sending you to our department, I wondered what his intentions were. But he certainly sent a truly great relief pitcher.”

If it’s Hassan, wasn’t that the pseudonym Prince Zagreus used when he ran away from home?

Even if it was a pseudonym, to call the prince’s name so loosely and comfortably!

No way…

“Are you Prince Zagreus’s third wife, Department Head Hippolyta?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?”

I already knew that Department Head Hippolyta was a married woman, but.

I never imagined she would be Prince Zagreus’s wife.

However, as far as I knew, Hippolyta, the Amazonian Queen in mythology, had been flirting with Hercules.

“What about Hercules?”

“That’s also Hassan’s other name. That man has many pseudonyms.”

Prince Zagreus was also called Hercules?

The content of this is completely different from the mythology I knew.

“Manager Joy, I didn’t know you would implement ‘work innovation’ within the Welfare Team, even while prepared to be hated by many female employees. I’ll be sure to tell that guy Hassan about your great ability.”

“Gasp.”

“Your promotion to Assistant Manager will also proceed without problems.”

A dizzying sensation shook my head.

As I staggered, beautiful and competent female employees supported my arm.

“Manager Joy, we heard a lot about you from Hedone!”

“All of us Welfare Team employees are friends with Hedone!”

“You said you don’t have a girlfriend yet, right, Manager Joy?”

What?! Hedone?

All the unmarried women were acquainted with Hedone, the chick-shaped ox?!

Friends with that seed of disaster!

If I had known from the start, I wouldn’t have even set foot in the Welfare Team.

“Employees, step back!”

“He said ‘step back’! Puhaha, Manager, you’re totally funny!”

“Manager, what do you do to spend your time on weekends?”

“Who is the prettiest among us!”

Just until recently, the eyes that had been shooting resentment and wariness towards me had changed.

Even the curses, which had been as melodious as an orchestra of Muses, were gone.

“You guys, don’t stick to Manager Joy like that! Manager Joy is uncomfortable, isn’t he? So, about that, Manager Joy. Would you like to go out on a business trip with me?”

Slide-.

Assistant Manager Fantasileia linked arms with me.

“From now on, we’ll be Assistant Managers at the same headquarters, so let’s build some rapport beforehand. If you want, we could even create our own small group, couldn’t we?”

The playful advances of the beautiful and competent women continued. They giggled as they watched my discomfort, and this was why the Welfare Team seemed to be a hell for single men.

Just then, Department Head Hippolyta handed me a paper envelope.

“Manager Joy, in honor of the great work performance you’ve shown. I, as the Department Head of the Welfare Team, put in a special effort.”

“What is this?”

“It’s two travel tickets to the surface. If you have a lover, it would be good to go together. Although it’s a one-day trip ticket, it’s an item that can only be obtained from the Welfare Team.”

…The surface!?

I’m glad I came to the Welfare Team!

The problem was that it was a two-person ticket.

“Manager, me!”

“Go with me!”

In an instant, the Amazonian female warriors rushed at me.

At this moment, Melinoye nim flashed through my mind and disappeared.